1st Homebrew Competition

I am planning on entering a Kolsch that I brewed into a local Homebrew competition. The question I have is whether the judges score the beers cold or warm? This particular beer is crystal clear warm. But then gets a chill haze if only fridged for a day or so. When I let it fridge for a week or more the chill haze dissipates. Should I just send in warm bottles? Should I fridge for a week or so then send in? Thanks for the help.

Most likely they will be chilled then served to the judges. So my vote is for warm and if it is a quality tasting beer the haze should not drop you down in points drastically.

I would also look at it this way. They drop you in points for a slight hazy beer, which you've identified as chill haze. Oh well, then in the future you can work on taking measures to prevent chill haze.

I wouldn't get so caught up in getting the gold medal the first time you enter a competition. If everything else on your beer is spot on for the style, and the judge whose tasting it can see flavor/aroma/color/mouthfeel everything is spot on they shouldn't drop you down too many points (unless its a beer style that specifically says it has to be crystal clear, even then they shouldnt drop you a ton if thats literally the only major flaw).

Most judges are understanding in homebrew competitions that the beer they're sampling isn't going to be as high in clarity as it would be at home.

The fact is, they will deduct points for chill haze (And it should be easy to identify, going by your description) but IIRC appearance counts for only 3 out of 50 points. For chill haze I doubt they would deduct more than a single point as long as color and head as to style. But a Kolsch has to be clear per the style description (They even describe the beer as authentic if it's filtered...)

So, I wouldn't worry AT ALL about sending this beer in for chill haze. I'd focus on reading up about how to prevent it next time and send it in and see what else the judges have to say. There are a lot worse things that can go wrong in a light beer than a little haze IMO. Judges tend to get picky on light beers more than the heavier and more flavorful beers.

Maybe one point will be deducted for haze in a Kolsch. Appearance total is only 3 points (color, clarity and head). One point usually makes no difference as many competitions these days send the top 4-5 to a mini BOS for the flight and pick the winners without taking into account the raw score.

I had a similar product with a Kolsch but was shocked when I took 1st place out of 40 entries.

Thanks everyone. I wont worry about it then. I am also working my recipes to do something about the chill haze during the brewing process.